JP2002247666A - Method and system for device control - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device control method and a device control system, where devices exist in a limited space, a control object device is simply registered to a remote control terminal, when the remote control terminal controls the devices and the remote control terminal conducts diversified device control operations. SOLUTION: The remote control terminal is placed within a range where communications with devices are possible, so as to exchange information with each device and check the presence of a registration available device (step s1). When registration available device exists, it is registered as a control object device and notified to a user (steps s2 to s4). The system enters a command wait state from a user, and when a command is entered, the system conducts a prescribed processing corresponding to the command. When the command indicates operation control to a device, the system conducts operation control of a device, corresponding to the command. When the command indicates information acquisition from the device, the system acquires information from the device (steps s5 to s7). Furthermore, a voice recognition function is provided to the remote control terminal, to attain device control by a voice command.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device control method and a device control system in which a plurality of devices such as home appliances exist in a limited space, and these devices can be controlled by a remote control terminal. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, microcomputers (referred to as microcomputers) have been used in a wide range of fields due to higher performance and lower prices of semiconductor products. In particular, microcomputers are used in many home electric appliances (home electric appliances), and multi-functionality and high performance are further increasing.

As described above, since microcomputers can be easily mounted on home electric appliances and the like, it has become easy to provide various kinds of functions that have not been considered so far in such devices. For example, a voice recognition function or a voice synthesis function is one example, and various devices having a voice interactive user interface function by providing the voice recognition function or the voice synthesis function have been considered. The same can be said for other than home appliances.

[0004] Recently, most of home electric appliances of this kind have a remote control terminal by wireless communication, that is, a remote control terminal (referred to as a remote control terminal), and can be remotely controlled from a distance of about several meters. There are many things. In addition, many remote control terminals can control a plurality of devices.

[0005]

However, as mentioned above,
Let's build a system in which one remote control terminal controls multiple devices, and the remote control terminal has a voice recognition function and controls the devices in response to a user's voice command. Then, various problems occur.

For example, consider a situation where a plurality of devices controlled by one remote control terminal exist in a limited space. FIG. 1 shows an air conditioner (referred to as an air conditioner) 2, a television (referred to as a TV) 3, an audio device 4 such as a stereo, a fixed telephone (hereinafter simply referred to as “air conditioner”) in a room 1 as one limited space. FIG. 1 shows a state where a telephone 5) and a remote control terminal 6 for controlling these devices are present.

As described above, when a plurality of devices controlled by one remote control terminal 6 exist in one room 1, the remote control terminal 6 determines which device is currently registered as a controllable device. After the recognition, the voice command of the user is recognized, and control based on the recognition result is performed. Therefore, the user needs to register a controllable device for the remote control terminal 6 for each device.

For example, when the air conditioner 2, the TV 3, the audio device 4, and the telephone 5 are controllable devices as in the above-described example, a code (ID) unique to each device and control of each device are required. It is necessary to register various necessary data in the remote control terminal 6. However, registering such various data often involves extremely troublesome operations, such as carefully reading the instruction manual and performing the registration operation one by one according to the procedure, and is not accustomed to handling this type of equipment. The fact is that the operation is cumbersome and difficult for the user.

When a user's voice command is recognized, for example, an operation sound generated by the operation of each device (for example, an operation sound of an air conditioner or a TV)
Is superimposed as noise on the voice command spoken by the user, which adversely affects voice recognition.
Therefore, it is necessary to acquire the operation sound of each of these devices as noise information and remove it at the time of recognition.

[0010] As described above, various problems occur when an attempt is made to construct a system in which a remote control terminal controls a plurality of devices. In particular, there are many problems in providing a remote control terminal with a voice recognition function, performing voice recognition of a user's voice command, and controlling a plurality of devices based on the recognition result.

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a system in which a plurality of devices such as home appliances exist in a limited space, and the devices can be controlled by a remote control terminal. When performing registration, the user does not need to perform cumbersome registration operations, and furthermore, the remote control terminal has a voice recognition function, recognizes voice commands from the user, and enables control based on the recognition result. Thus, an object of the present invention is to enable a remote control terminal to efficiently control a plurality of devices.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a device control method using voice recognition according to the present invention uses a remote control terminal to control a plurality of devices existing in a limited space. In the device control method of controlling the remote control terminal, the remote control terminal is located within a communicable range with respect to the device, thereby performing two-way communication between the remote control terminal and the plurality of devices. The remote control terminal acquires the information possessed by the device, registers each device as a control target device, and thereafter, when the user gives a command to the remote control terminal, executes the process for the command. I have.

In such a device control method, the information obtained by the remote control terminal includes device identification information for identifying each device and noise information collected by each device.

In this device control method, the remote control terminal performs a process from a position where the remote control terminal is located within a communicable range with the device to a process of executing a command given by a user. Examine the existence of a device that can be registered by exchanging information with another device, and if there is a device that can be registered, register it as one of the control target devices, and then wait for a command from the user. When a command is input from a user, a process corresponding to the command is performed, and if the command is an operation control for a device, the operation of the corresponding device is controlled, and information is acquired from the device having the command. If so, the information is obtained from the device.

In the device control method, the remote operation terminal has a voice recognition function, inputs a voice command as a command from a user, recognizes the voice command, and controls the device based on the recognition result. To do.

In this device control method, the remote control terminal and a device controlled by the remote control terminal are connected to a network, and can exchange information via the network.

In this device control method, an information processing device is added to a system constituted by the remote operation terminal and a device controlled by the remote operation terminal, and a system is provided between the information processing device and the remote operation terminal. , And the information processing device can perform the processing to be performed by the remote operation terminal.

The device control system according to the present invention is a device control system capable of controlling a plurality of devices existing in a limited space by using a remote control terminal. A wireless communication unit capable of bidirectional communication with the device, a device control unit capable of controlling the plurality of devices, and a command input unit capable of inputting a user command, the plurality of The device includes a wireless communication unit that enables two-way communication with the remote operation terminal, a device operation unit that performs an original operation of the own device, and a device operation unit that receives a control signal from the remote operation terminal and receives a control signal from the remote operation terminal. And a device control unit that enables information exchange with the remote control terminal. Then, by positioning the remote operation terminal within a communicable range with respect to the device, bidirectional communication is performed between the remote operation terminal and the plurality of devices, and information held by the plurality of devices is transmitted to the remote operation terminal. Is acquired, and each device is registered as a device to be controlled, and thereafter, when a user gives a command to the remote operation terminal, a process for the command is executed.

In such a device control system, the information obtained by the remote operation terminal includes device identification information for identifying each device and noise information collected by each device.

In the device control system, the remote control terminal performs a process from the position of the remote control terminal within a communication range with the device to the process of executing a command given by a user. Examine the existence of a device that can be registered by exchanging information with another device, and if there is a device that can be registered, register it as one of the control target devices, and then wait for a command from the user. When a command is input from a user, a process corresponding to the command is performed, and if the command is an operation control for a device, the operation of the corresponding device is controlled, and information is acquired from the device having the command. If so, the information is obtained from the device.

In this equipment control system, the remote operation terminal has a voice recognition function, inputs a voice command as a command from a user, recognizes the voice command, and controls the equipment based on the recognition result. To do.

In this equipment control system, the remote control terminal and the equipment controlled by the remote control terminal are connected to a network, and can exchange information via the network.

Further, in this device control system, an information processing device is added to a system constituted by the remote operation terminal and a device controlled by the remote operation terminal, and a system is provided between the information processing device and the remote operation terminal. To enable two-way communication, and allow the information processing device to perform processing to be performed by the remote operation terminal.

As described above, according to the present invention, bidirectional communication is performed between the remote control terminal and a plurality of devices only by positioning the remote control terminal (remote control terminal) within the communicable range with the device. Various data required for control, such as a device-specific code (ID), are automatically registered in the remote control terminal. This eliminates the need for the user to register the information of each device in the remote control terminal for each device, thereby eliminating the need for performing a cumbersome registration operation.

The information obtained by the remote control terminal is at least device identification information for identifying each device and noise information collected by each device, and is limited by obtaining the device identification information. It is possible to know what devices exist in the space. Also, if the remote control terminal is provided with a voice recognition function by acquiring the noise information, the voice recognition processing can be performed after appropriately removing the noise information superimposed on the voice command, thereby obtaining a high recognition rate. be able to.

The processing procedure up to the execution of the processing in response to the command from the user is to check at least the existence of a device that can be registered by exchanging information with each device, and to determine whether there is a device that can be registered. Then, it is registered as one of the devices to be controlled, and then enters a command waiting state from the user. When a command is input from the user, a process corresponding to the command is performed, and the command is applied to the device having the command. If the operation is controlled, the operation of the corresponding device is controlled, and if the information is obtained from a device having a command, the information is obtained from the device. Thus, as described above, device registration can be performed only by positioning the remote control terminal within the communicable range with the device, and thereafter, the user can perform device control only by giving a command to the remote control terminal. And can be made extremely convenient.

Further, by providing the remote control terminal with a voice recognition function, it becomes possible to control devices by voice commands.

Further, an information processing device is added to the present system,
Since the bidirectional communication between the information processing device and the remote control terminal is enabled and the processing to be performed by the remote control terminal can be performed by the device control means, the processing load on the remote control terminal is greatly reduced. Can be done.

By using a high-performance information processing device such as a personal computer as the device control means, it is possible to perform much more advanced information processing than the information processing means of the remote control terminal, and to perform complicated calculations at high speed. Becomes possible. In particular, by providing the voice recognition function on the information processing device side, it is possible to incorporate high-performance voice recognition technology, and it is possible to greatly increase the number of recognizable words, and to generate not only words but also continuous voice. High-performance recognition is also possible. Further, since high-performance speech synthesis is also possible, an advanced interactive user interface is possible, and various device controls are possible.

Further, by connecting the remote control terminal and devices controlled by the remote control terminal to a network (internal network) and enabling information exchange via the network, information between the remote control terminal and each device can be obtained. Not only exchange, but also information exchange between devices becomes possible.

[0031]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. The contents described in this embodiment are as follows.
It includes both the description of the device control method and the device control system of the present invention.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
In one living space 1, as a plurality of devices to be controlled, audio devices 4, such as an air conditioner 2, a TV 3, and a stereo,
It is assumed that a fixed telephone (hereinafter simply referred to as a telephone) 5 exists, and these devices are controlled by a remote control terminal (in this embodiment, one remote control terminal).

In this embodiment, the remote control terminal 6 has a voice-compatible user interface function and also has a voice recognition function, and recognizes a voice command spoken by a user and outputs a result of the recognition. The device is controlled based on this. Further, in this embodiment, it is assumed that a voice synthesizing function is provided in order to provide a function of responding to the user by voice.

The remote control terminal 6 and each device (air conditioner 2, TV 3, audio device 4, telephone 5)
The short-range wireless communication function enables two-way communication. The remote control terminal 6 controls the operation of devices and obtains information from each device, and further exchanges information between each device and the remote control terminal 6. It can be carried out.

That is, if the command from the user is a command related to some kind of operation control for the device, for example, in addition to control such as stopping or starting the operation of the air conditioner 2, operation control such as setting of strong / weak air volume and temperature setting. Alternatively, if the power switch of the TV 3 is turned on / off, the channel is changed, the volume is increased / decreased, and the remote control terminal 6 is provided with a voice input / output function, the voice received by the telephone 5 can receive the voice. The user can also operate the telephone 6 with the remote control terminal 6 to make a call.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the device to be controlled shown in FIG. Although the device operation unit 21 and the user operation unit 22 shown in FIG. 2 have different configurations and functions for each device, the constituent elements of the gist of the present invention are the same. The air conditioner 2 will be described as an example.

As shown in FIG. 2, the configuration of the air conditioner 2 includes a device operation unit 21 which operates as a normal air conditioner which has been conventionally used in general, an operation start / stop of the air conditioner, and a timer setting. In addition to the user operation unit 22 that allows the user to make various settings made by the air conditioner, a wireless communication unit 23 that enables short-range wireless communication with the remote control terminal 6, and receives a control signal from the remote control terminal 6. A device control unit 24 that controls the device operation unit 21 and executes various processes for exchanging information with the remote control terminal 6, and stores an operation processing program executed by the device control unit 24. An information storage unit 25 including a RAM for storing various information necessary for processing performed by the device control unit 24, such as a read-only ROM and information transmitted from the remote control terminal 6, It is.

Various information notified from the device control unit 24 to the remote control terminal 6 includes, in addition to information unique to the device and information on what operation the own device performs,
The information is noise information acquired by the own device, and is control information for operating the device (the air conditioner 2 in this figure) from the remote control terminal 6 to the device control unit 24. Specific examples of these will be described later.

Although FIG. 2 has described the air conditioner 2, other devices besides the device operation unit 21 and the user operation unit 22 specific to each device, as described above, the wireless communication unit 23 and the device control unit 24 , An information storage unit 25.

FIG. 3 schematically shows the configuration of the remote control terminal 6, in which each device (air conditioner 2,
A wireless communication unit 61 that enables short-range wireless communication with the TV 3, the audio device 4, and the telephone 5), which has a voice input / output function, a voice recognition function, and a voice synthesis function, and is controlled based on the recognition result. A device control unit 62 that generates a control signal for the device to be used, and further enables information exchange with each device, a ROM storing an operation processing program executed by the device control unit 62, and a ROM An information storage unit 63 including a RAM for storing various information necessary for processing performed by the device control unit 62, such as information sent from the device, a device name that can be controlled by the remote control terminal 6, and a current device to be controlled. A display unit 64 that displays various information such as what kind of control is being performed, and has a function as a command input unit for inputting a command from a user and various settings. The user operation unit 65 to allow operation
And so on.

Since the remote control terminal 6 has a voice-compatible user interface function, the above-described device control unit 62 includes a voice input microphone 621 that also functions as a command input unit, and the microphone 6
An amplifier 622 that amplifies the sound input to the input terminal 21;
A / D conversion section 623 for digitally converting audio, D / A conversion section 624 for analog conversion of output audio data, amplifier 625 for amplifying it, and speaker 62 for outputting it
6 are provided. In addition, it performs control to enable wireless communication with the device to be controlled, obtains information held by the device after wireless communication becomes available, and speaks from the user. An information processing unit 627 is provided for performing overall control such as recognizing the received voice command, performing device control based on the recognition result, and generating voice for responding to the user as necessary. .

The information processing section 627 is also connected to the user operation section 65, and the operation state of each device (as described above, the power switch is turned on if the air conditioner is used as described above). -Off, air volume, temperature setting, etc.) can be set by the user.

As described above, in this embodiment, a situation is considered in which a plurality of devices exist in one room 1 as a certain limited space, and these devices are controlled by one remote control terminal 6. In this embodiment, the remote control terminal 6 has a voice interactive user interface function, recognizes a voice command spoken by the user, and enables device control based on the recognition result. Note that the speech recognition is performed while performing noise removal using the noise information. Hereinafter, the overall operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The flowchart of FIG. 4 mainly shows the processing performed by the remote control terminal 6. First, it is checked whether a device that can be registered as a control target device exists (step s1). This can be achieved by exchanging signals between the remote control terminal 6 and each device in the situation as shown in FIG. That is, if each device is in a state of waiting for a signal from remote control terminal 6, it receives a signal (including an ID unique to each device) output from remote control terminal 6 and outputs a response signal to it. When the remote control terminal 6 receives it, the remote control terminal 6 can know which device is a registerable device and whether the device is already registered.

Then, it is determined whether an unregistered device exists among the registerable devices (step s2), and if there is an unregistered device, the device is registered (step s).
3). In this way, some devices are connected to the remote control terminal 6.
Is registered as a control target device, the registered device, that is, a controllable device is notified to the user (step s4).
The notification to the user of the controllable device may be made to display the controllable device name on the display unit 64 of the remote control terminal 6, but it is also necessary to display the controllable device on the screen of the TV3 or the like. Can also.

The display of the controllable device may be automatically displayed when a new device is registered, or the controllable device may be displayed at any time by a user operation. be able to. Thereby, the user can know which device can be controlled by the remote control terminal 6 at present.

At this point, the system waits for a command from the user (step s5), determines whether there is a command from the user (step s6), and if there is a command, executes a process corresponding to the command (step s5). s7), returning to step s1.

The processing corresponding to the command from the user in step s7 means that if the user's command is a command related to some kind of operation control for the device, for example, in addition to control such as stopping or starting operation of the air conditioner 2, This is operation control such as setting of high / low air volume and temperature setting, or control such as turning on / off a power switch of the TV 3, changing channels, and increasing / decreasing the volume.
If the command from the user is a command for acquiring some information from a certain device, control is performed to acquire the information from the corresponding device and present it to the user (display on the display unit 64).

By the way, the user's command in the processing procedure of FIG. 4 is not only a command generated by operating a button or the like provided on the user operation unit 65 of the remote control terminal 6 by the user, but also the user's microphone 621. , The command is voiced. If the command is voiced, the processing procedure is as shown in the flowchart of FIG. This figure 5
Corresponds to the processing after step s6 in FIG.

In FIG. 5, in a command waiting state from the user in FIG. 4 (step s5), it is determined whether or not there is a voice command from the user (step s1).
1) If there is no voice command, the process returns to step s1 in FIG. 4, and if there is a voice command, the process enters a voice recognition process for the voice command (step s12). This voice recognition process is performed while exchanging information between the remote control terminal 6 and each device as necessary. An example of the information exchanged is noise information acquired by each device.

As described above, the noise information is obtained by superimposing the operation sound of the air conditioner 2 or the voice of the TV 3 or the audio equipment 4 on the voice command, which becomes noise and adversely affects voice recognition. Therefore, it is desirable to remove these noises when recognizing the voice, so it is desirable to obtain the noise information from each device and remove the obtained noise information from the voice command. Voice recognition. This noise information can be transmitted to the remote control terminal 6 by wireless communication as noise information after each device performs noise analysis. However, the remote control terminal 6 directly outputs the noise of each device to its own. The sound may be captured by the microphone 621 and subjected to noise analysis.

As described above, when performing voice recognition, the voice recognition processing is performed after removing the noise superimposed on the voice command. Here, the noise information refers to the above-mentioned stationary operation generated by the air conditioner 2 or the like. The sound is a sound or a sound such as a sound or music emitted from the TV 3 or the audio device 4.
Is performed by acquiring these pieces of noise information from each device by information exchange through wireless communication, and analyzing the acquired noise information. Thereby, when recognizing the voice command, the voice command can be recognized after removing the noise superimposed on the voice command.

Also, such noise is generated by the remote control terminal 6.
In some cases, a device that is not registered may emit noise, and in other cases, noise that is constantly present in the environment. These noises can be collected by the remote control terminal 6 with its own microphone 621 as described above.

The steady operation noise generated by the air conditioner 2 or the like may be obtained by analyzing the collected noise in advance and storing it in the air conditioner 2 or by the remote control terminal 6 storing it. it can. Therefore, at the time of voice recognition, the stored noise information of the stationary sound is read out, and the stationary noise superimposed on the voice command is removed to perform the voice recognition.

On the other hand, TV3 superimposed on the voice command
It is necessary to recognize the sound emitted from the audio device 4 by removing noise while analyzing noise information in real time.
Therefore, the sound information from the TV 3 or the audio device 4 may be obtained in real time by each device, and the obtained sound may be analyzed in noise and sent to the remote control terminal 6 as noise information in real time. As mentioned above,
The remote control terminal 6 transmits the sound information to its own microphone 62
Alternatively, the sound information may be taken directly from 1 and the sound information may be subjected to noise analysis. In this case, the actual voice recognition processing may be performed while buffering a noise analysis of the noise which is noise and synchronizing with the voice command while removing the noise with a slight time delay. it can.

After the recognition process for the voice command is performed in this way, the process for the recognition result is performed next. As the processing, first, it is determined whether or not to make a voice response (step s13).

That is, when the remote control terminal 6 is of the voice interactive type and needs to respond by voice, the content of a response to the user's voice command is generated by voice synthesis processing (step s14), and the content of the response is generated. Is output from the speaker 626 as audio. Next, the device is controlled according to the recognition result (step s15). On the other hand, if the determination in step s13 is that voice response is not to be performed, processing is directly performed based on the recognition result (step s15).

The process based on the recognition result performed in step s15 is, as described above, if the user's command is a command related to some kind of operation control on the device, for example,
In addition to control such as stopping and starting the operation of the air conditioner 2, operation control such as setting of a strong / weak air volume and temperature setting,
The control includes turning on / off the power switch of the TV 3, changing channels, and increasing / decreasing the volume. If the command from the user is a command to obtain some information from a certain device, control is performed to obtain the information from the corresponding device and present it to the user (display on the display unit 64).

When the user gives a voice command to a device to be controlled, the remote control terminal 6 recognizes what device is currently registered as a controllable device. For example, if the user selects an air conditioner as the control target device, the user first speaks "air conditioner" and then gives a voice command such as "switch on" as the operation control content. I just need. Also,
If the voice command is not used only for the device, the user does not need to specify the device name, and the remote controller 6 can recognize the device to which the voice command is applied.

As described above, in this embodiment, if the remote control terminal 6 is located within a range where short-range wireless communication is possible simply by bringing the remote control terminal 6 to a place where a plurality of devices are present, Information is automatically exchanged by wireless communication between the remote control terminal 6 and a plurality of devices, and information on the controllable device can be registered in the remote control terminal 6. After that, the remote control terminal 6 enables device control and information exchange between the remote control terminal 6 and each device.

Further, since the remote control terminal 6 has a voice recognition function, it is possible to control the equipment by voice commands, and by having a voice synthesis function,
It is also possible for the user to respond by voice or the like, and it is possible to provide a function as a voice interactive user interface.

Further, the operation sound of the air conditioner 2 and the operation sound of the TV 3, the audio equipment 4, and the like can be obtained as noise information, and can be removed from the voice command as noise to perform voice recognition. Improvement can be achieved.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, a system configuration as shown in FIG. 6 is also possible.
In the system shown in FIG. 6, an air conditioner 2, a TV 3, an audio device 4, a telephone 5, and other remote control terminals 6 for controlling the devices are connected to an internal network 7, and further connected to the internal network 7 like a personal computer (PC). This is an example in which a high-performance information processing device (referred to as a PC) 8 is connected.

By adopting such a system, not only information exchange between the remote control terminal 6 and each device but also information exchange between the devices can be performed.
Advanced information processing including C8 becomes possible. Also, some of the functions to be performed by the remote control terminal 6 can be performed by the PC 8, and the processing load on the remote control terminal 6 can be greatly reduced.
More advanced processing becomes possible. For example, if a complicated process such as a voice recognition function (and a voice synthesis function is provided if a voice synthesis function is provided) is performed by the PC 8, more advanced voice recognition processing and voice synthesis processing can be performed. .

Further, by connecting the PC 8 to the external network 9 in the configuration of FIG. 6 (see FIG. 7), connection to the Internet or the like is also possible. As a result, information from the Internet can be obtained, and device control based on the information can be performed. As an example, when the PC 8 obtains TV program information from the Internet and the user wants to watch a news program, the user can designate the “news program” by a voice command to the remote control terminal 6 so that the currently broadcasted news program is displayed. , And if there is a news program on the air, inform the user of it and automatically
Channel can be set, and program reservation can be performed by voice command.

When the system is configured as shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7, not all the devices to be controlled need to be connected to the internal network 7. May be transmitted and received directly with the remote control terminal 6 without being connected.

Further, the number of remote control terminals 6 is not limited to one, and a plurality of remote control terminals 6 may exist. For example, the whole family may own one at a time, in which case, if it is dedicated to individual owners, and if it has a voice recognition function, it is only necessary to be able to recognize a specific speaker. Can be improved.

As described above, the remote control terminal is set for each owner,
Alternatively, if it is possible to have a limited number of users (for example, couples),
A mobile phone or PHS can be used as the remote control terminal 6. That is, it is also possible to add a remote control function to a mobile phone or a PHS, and according to this, it can be used for controlling not only devices existing indoors but also various devices outdoors. For example, it becomes possible to control a device (a car stereo, a car air conditioner, etc.) mounted on a car by using a mobile phone or a PHS. It can also be used in electronic reception at hospitals and the like.

The remote control terminal 6 is not limited to a type that is held and operated by the user, and may be any type in which the remote control terminal 6 has a voice interactive function.
It may be of a headset type.

In the above-described embodiment, home appliances are mainly assumed as devices to be controlled. However, the present invention is not limited to home appliances, and exists in facilities such as factories, for example. The present invention can be applied to a case where a plurality of devices are controlled.

Further, according to the present invention, a processing program in which a processing procedure for realizing the present invention described above is described is created, and the processing program is recorded on a recording medium such as a floppy disk, an optical disk, or a hard disk. The present invention also includes a recording medium on which the processing program is recorded. Further, the processing program may be obtained from a network.

[0072]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a system in which a plurality of devices existing in a limited space can be controlled using a remote control terminal (remote control terminal), a remote control terminal is provided. Just by positioning the remote control terminal within the communicable range with the device, bidirectional communication is performed between the remote control terminal and the plurality of devices, and various codes necessary for control, such as codes (ID) unique to each device, are performed. The data is automatically registered in the remote control terminal. This eliminates the need for the user to manually perform a troublesome operation of manually registering information about each device for each device.

Further, an information processing device is added to this system,
Two-way communication is possible between the information processing device and the remote control terminal so that the information processing device can perform processing to be performed by the remote control terminal. As described above, the processing that should be performed by the remote control terminal can be performed by the information processing device instead, so that the processing load on the remote control terminal can be significantly reduced.

If a high-performance information processing device such as a personal computer is used as the information processing device, much more advanced information processing can be performed as compared with the information processing means provided in the remote control terminal. It becomes possible. In particular, by providing the voice recognition function on the information processing device side, it is possible to incorporate high-performance voice recognition technology, and it is possible to greatly increase the number of recognizable words, and to generate not only words but also continuous voice. High-performance recognition is also possible. Further, since high-performance speech synthesis is also possible, an advanced interactive user interface is possible, and various device controls are possible.

The present invention also takes into account noise removal superimposed on voice commands. In other words, based on information about noise sent from each device, it is possible to perform voice recognition after removing noise superimposed on voice commands, so that appropriate noise removal can be performed without being affected by noise. And a high recognition rate can be obtained.

The remote control terminal and the devices controlled by the remote control terminal are connected to a network (internal network) so that information can be exchanged through the internal network. Not only information exchange but also information exchange between devices becomes possible.
In addition, since this system can be connected to a network externally, it acquires information on the Internet,
It can be used for device control, and the variety of device control can be increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of device arrangement for explaining an embodiment of the present invention, schematically showing a state in which a plurality of devices and a remote control terminal for controlling the same exist in a limited space. .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration diagram of an air conditioner 2 as the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration diagram of a remote control terminal 6 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a main part of a processing procedure when a user's command is a voice in the processing procedure illustrated in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example in which, in the system configuration in FIG. 1, devices to be controlled and a remote control terminal 6 for controlling the devices are connected to an internal network, and a personal computer (PC) 8 is further connected to the internal network. is there.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example in which a PC 8 is connected to an external network in the system configuration in FIG. 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Room as a limited space 2 Air conditioner 3 TV 4 Audio equipment 5 Telephone 6 Remote control terminal 7 Internal network 8 PC as information processing equipment 9 External network 21 Device operation part in air conditioner 2 22 User operation part in air conditioner 2 23 Air conditioner 2 Wireless communication unit 24 air conditioner 2 device control unit 25 air conditioner 2 information storage unit 61 wireless communication unit in remote control terminal 6 62 device control unit in remote control terminal 6 63 information storage unit in remote control terminal 6 64 display unit 65 remote control terminal 6 User operation unit 621 Microphone 622 Amplifier 623 A / D converter 624 D / A converter 625 Amplifier 626 Speaker 627 Information processing unit

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A device control method for controlling a plurality of devices existing in a limited space using a remote control terminal, wherein the remote control terminal is located within a communicable range with respect to the device. By performing bidirectional communication between the remote control terminal and the plurality of devices, the remote control terminal acquires information possessed by the plurality of devices, registers each device as a device to be controlled, and thereafter. A user giving a command to the remote operation terminal to execute a process corresponding to the command. 2. The device control method according to claim 1, wherein the information acquired by the remote operation terminal includes device identification information for identifying each device and noise information collected by each device. . 3. A processing procedure performed by the remote operation terminal from the time when the remote operation terminal is positioned within a communicable range with the device to the time when a process given to a command given by a user is executed is performed between each device. Examine the existence of devices that can be registered by exchanging information, and if there is a device that can be registered, register it as one of the control target devices.
When a command from the user is entered and a command is input from the user, processing corresponding to the command is performed. If the command is operation control for a certain device, operation control of the device corresponding to the command is performed. 3. The device control method according to claim 1, wherein if the information is obtained from a certain device, the information is obtained from the device. 4. The remote operation terminal has a voice recognition function, inputs a voice command as a command from a user, recognizes the voice command, and performs device control based on the recognition result. The device control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. The remote control terminal according to claim 1, wherein the remote control terminal and a device controlled by the remote control terminal are connected to a network to enable information exchange via the network. Equipment control method. 6. An information processing device is added to a system including the remote operation terminal and a device controlled by the remote operation terminal, so that bidirectional communication can be performed between the information processing device and the remote operation terminal. 6. The device control method according to claim 1, wherein the information processing device can perform processing to be performed by the remote operation terminal. 7. A device control system for controlling a plurality of devices existing in a limited space by using a remote control terminal, wherein the remote control terminal bidirectionally communicates with the plurality of devices. A wireless communication unit capable of communication, a device control unit capable of controlling the plurality of devices, and a command input unit capable of inputting a user command, wherein the plurality of devices include the remote control terminal; A wireless communication unit that enables two-way communication between, a device operation unit that performs its own device's original operation, and a remote control terminal that receives the control signal from the remote operation terminal and controls the device operation unit. And a device control unit that enables information exchange between the remote control terminal and the plurality of devices by positioning the remote control terminal within a communicable range with respect to the device. Communication Characterized in that the remote operation terminal acquires the information of the device, registers each device as a device to be controlled, and thereafter executes a process for the command by giving a command to the remote operation terminal by a user. Equipment control system. 8. The device control system according to claim 7, wherein the information obtained by the remote operation terminal includes device identification information for identifying each device and noise information collected by each device. . 9. A processing procedure performed by a remote operation terminal from the time when the remote operation terminal is positioned within a communicable range with the device to the time when a process given to a command given by a user is executed is performed between each device. By exchanging information, the existence of a device that can be registered is checked, and if there is a device that can be registered, it is registered as one of the control target devices. When a command is input, it performs processing corresponding to the command.If the command is operation control for a device, the device controls the operation of the corresponding device. The device control system according to claim 7, wherein information is acquired. 10. The remote operation terminal has a voice recognition function, inputs a voice command as a command from a user, recognizes the voice command, and performs device control based on the recognition result. The device control system according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein 11. The remote control terminal according to claim 7, wherein the remote control terminal and a device controlled by the remote control terminal are connected to a network to enable information exchange via the network. Equipment control system. 12. An information processing device is added to a system including the remote operation terminal and a device controlled by the remote operation terminal, so that bidirectional communication can be performed between the information processing device and the remote operation terminal. 12. The device control system according to claim 7, wherein the information processing device can perform a process to be performed by the remote operation terminal.